Gender differences in learning style preferences of first year medical students

ABSTRACT

Learning style is defined as the manner and the conditions under which learners most efficiently and effectively perceive, process, store and recall what they are attempting to learn. Do men and women learn differently or have different preferred ways of learning? To address this concern, faculty members should understand their students' learning style preferences. We are interested in developing teaching approaches to address the learning needs of all of our medical students. To better understand our learners and their learning style characteristics, we administered Flaming's VARK questionnaire for assessing sensory modality. Participants in this study consisted of 1[st] year medical students at Government Medical College, Kota, India. A total of 155 students completed the questionnaire [59 female and 57 males]. The VARK questionnaire was used to identify one facet of student learning styles, the sensory modality by which they prefer to take information. Males [92.98%] and females [76.27%] preferred information to reach them via multiple sensory modalities. In addition only 15.52% of all students [6.25% males and 23.75% females] preferred using a single sensory modality for information intake. There was a significant gender difference in the percentages of males and females students who preferred multimodal or unimodal styles of information presentation [p<0.05]. Some students preferred two modes [32.07% male vs 26.66% females], some students preferred three modes [47.16% male vs 40% female], and some students preferred four modes [20.75 male vs 33.33% female]. There were no gender differences in the percentage of males and female students who preferred bi-, tri-, or quadmodal styles of information presentation [p>0.05]. Although both males and females preferred multimodal learning but in different degree. Significant variation between the genders were revealed [p<0.05]. As teachers, we need to assess and understand how to reach all students by understanding how to present the information in multiple modes. We can help students more effectively; both in and out of the classroom, if we are aware of their learning style